The Most Influential People Across History
Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines
Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.
Students and researchers now have a fast and reliable way to find influential thinkers from 24 disciplines and 300 sub-disciplines (and growing). If you want to find history’s most influential philsosophers, or the world’s most influential mathematicians currently, now you can.
We also provide custom rankings of people by discipline as well as interviews with influential academics who are currently active.
To use this tool, select the discipline (and optional subdiscipline) relevant to your research, and specify influential academics by history, world, or US. Even results that are counterintuitive are often enlightening (our algorithm always picks up a signal).
Methodology: How and Why We Rank by Influence …
See additional learning tools, study tips, features on campus life and much more at our Student Resources Headquarters.
List of the most influential people in Computer Science,
#3551
Mario Gerardo Piattini Velthuis
#94339
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (60 years)
Mario Gerardo Piattini Velthuis . He is a computer scientist with diverse research in the field of systems and software engineering, founder of the Alarcos Research Group. Biography Piattini was born as the first child of three brothers, in Buenos Aires whose parents are Carlos Piattini and Ans Velthuis. He later moved to Rome and studied at the Liceo Cervantes Secondary School in Rome, where he finished in 1983.
Go to Profile#3552
Randy D Gascoyne
#100064
Overall Influence
#3553
Patrick Maisonneuve
#100073
Overall Influence
#3554
Boi Faltings
#85951
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Boi Volkert Faltings is a Swiss professor of artificial intelligence at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Education Faltings was born in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and he received a diploma with distinction from ETH Zurich in 1983, where he studied electrical engineering with James Massey. He obtained a Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1987 under the supervision of Ken Forbus. His thesis was entitled "Qualitative kinematics in mechanisms" and showed for the first time how to derive kinematic interactions from object shapes.
Go to Profile#3555
Günter Grass
#856
Overall Influence
1927 - 2015 (88 years)
Günter Wilhelm Grass was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Danzig . As a teenager, he was drafted into the military and served from late 1944 in the Waffen-SS. He was taken as a prisoner of war by US forces at the end of the war in May 1945. He was released in April 1946. Trained as a stonemason and sculptor, Grass began writing in the 1950s. In his fiction, he frequently returned to the Danzig of his childhood.
Go to Profile#3556
Jean Walrand
#63804
Overall Influence
Jean Camille Walrand is a professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences department at the University of California, Berkeley, and has been on the faculty of that department since 1982. He is the author of "An Introduction to Queueing Networks" , "Communication Networks: A First Course" , "Probability in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences: An Application-Driven Course" , and "Uncertainty: A User Guide" , and co-author of "High-Performance Communication Networks" , "Communication Networks: A Conc...
Go to Profile#3557
Marco Guazzi
#100180
Overall Influence
#3558
Michio Inagaki
#100183
Overall Influence
#3559
Jinsong Ren
#100200
Overall Influence
#3560
Bernd Löwe
#100201
Overall Influence
#3561
Takao Nishizeki
#49228
Overall Influence
1947 - 2022 (75 years)
was a Japanese mathematician and computer scientist who specialized in graph algorithms and graph drawing. Education and career Nishizeki was born in 1947 in Fukushima, and was a student at Tohoku University, earning a bachelor's degree in 1969, a master's in 1971, and a doctorate in 1974. He continued at Tohoku as a faculty member, and became a full professor there in 1988. He was the Dean of the Graduate School of Information Sciences, Tohoku University, from April 2008 to March 2010. He retired in 2010, becoming a professor emeritus at Tohoku University, but continued teaching as a professor at Kwansei Gakuin University until March 2015.
Go to Profile#3562
Lorenzo Alvisi
#86741
Overall Influence
Lorenzo Alvisi is an Italian computer scientist and Tisch University Professor at Cornell University. Prior to joining Cornell, he was a University Distinguished Teaching Professor and the holder of the Endowed Professorship #5 at University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on distributed systems and dependability. He holds a laurea in Physics from the University of Bologna , and an MS and PhD in Computer Science from Cornell University . He is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery since 2010 and of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers since 2016.
Go to Profile#3563
Alicia Nicki Washington
#77090
Overall Influence
Alicia Nicki Washington is an American computer scientist, author, and professor at Duke University. She is the author of the book Unapologetically Dope. She was the first Black woman to earn a Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science from North Carolina State University in 2005.
Go to Profile#3564
Mihaela Van Der Schaar Schaar
#100281
Overall Influence
#3565
Colin Ware
#95963
Overall Influence
Colin Ware is a professor at the University of New Hampshire, cross-appointed between the Departments of Computer Science and Ocean Engineering. Ware is the director of the Data Visualization Research Lab in the university's Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping.
Go to Profile#3566
Petter Gottschalk
#56772
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Petter Gottschalk is a Norwegian professor of IT strategy employed at the BI Norwegian Business School at its Institute for Leadership and Organizational Management. He is educated Diplom-Kaufmann from Berlin Institute of Technology, Master of Science from Dartmouth College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Doctor of Business Administration from Henley Management College and Brunel University.
Go to Profile#3567
Robert Metcalfe
#66965
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (80 years)
#3568
Santosh K. Gupta
#100365
Overall Influence
#3569
Jean-Charles Faugère
#60058
Overall Influence
Jean-Charles Faugère is the head of the POLSYS project-team of the Laboratoire d'Informatique de Paris 6 and Paris–Rocquencourt center of INRIA, in Paris. The team was formerly known as SPIRAL and SALSA.
Go to Profile#3570
Jack Howlett
#36061
Overall Influence
1912 - 1999 (87 years)
Jack Howlett CBE was a British mathematician and computer scientist who was head of the Atlas Computer Laboratory for the duration of its existence. Personal life and early career He was educated at Stand Grammar School, Whitefield, Manchester and read mathematics at Manchester University. He was awarded a PhD in 1944 for research on the Numerical Integration of Partial Differential Equations.
Go to Profile#3571
Neil Selwyn
#100395
Overall Influence
1973 - Present (53 years)
#3572
Javier Esparza
#95879
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (62 years)
Francisco Javier Esparza Estaun is a Spanish computer scientist. He is a professor at the Technische Universität München. Education Javier Esparza Estaun received his Master of Science degree in Theoretical Physics from the University of Zaragoza . He earned his Doctoral degree in Computer Science from the same university. He habilitated 1994 at the University of Hildesheim on the subject of Petri net unfoldings.
Go to Profile#3573
Éric Moulines
#94422
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (63 years)
Éric Moulines is a French researcher in statistical learning and signal processing. He received the silver medal from the CNRS in 2010, the France Télécom prize awarded in collaboration with the French Academy of Sciences in 2011. He was appointed a Fellow of the European Association for Signal Processing in 2012 and of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics in 2016. He is General Engineer of the Corps des Mines .
Go to Profile#3574
David Shu-cheong Hui
#100525
Overall Influence
#3575
Nello Cristianini
#100532
Overall Influence
#3576
Barbara Webb
#70359
Overall Influence
Barbara H. Webb is a professor of robotics at the University of Edinburgh. She builds robotic models of insects. Education Webb completed a bachelor's degree in Psychology at the University of Sydney in 1988. She earned her PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh in 1993.
Go to Profile#3577
Kazuki Saito
#100566
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
#3578
Rita McBride
#35917
Overall Influence
1960 - Present (66 years)
Rita McBride is an American artist and sculptor. She is based in Los Angeles and Düsseldorf. Alongside her artistic practice, McBride is a professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, and served as its director until 2017. McBride is married to Glen Rubsamen, an American painter from Los Angeles.
Go to Profile#3579
Ernst Mayr
#79389
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Ernst Wilhelm Mayr is a German computer scientist and mathematician. He received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize in 1997 awarded for his contributions to theoretical computer science. Mayr's research in computer science covers algorithms and complexity theory. He also explores symbolic mathematics/computer algebra and methods in bioinformatics. His principal interests lie in describing and modeling parallel and distributed programs and systems, the design and analysis of efficient parallel algorithms and programming paradigms, the design of algorithm solutions for scheduling and load balancing problems and investigation of their complexity theory.
Go to Profile#3580
Paul Steinmann
#100668
Overall Influence
#3581
Guiwu Wei
#100708
Overall Influence
#3582
Catherine Stanton
#100715
Overall Influence
#3583
R J R Blair
#100721
Overall Influence
#3584
Fons Hickmann
#31137
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (60 years)
Fons Hickmann is a German graphic designer and professor of Communication Design at the Berlin University of the Arts. He is the founder and director of the design studio Fons Hickmann m23. Life and career Hickmann was born in the German city of Hamm and studied photography and communication design combined with philosophy at the University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf, and aesthetics and media theory in Wuppertal. In 2001 Hickmann and Gesine Grotrian-Steinweg founded the design studio Fons Hickmann m23 in Berlin. Hickmann serves as its director. The emphasis of the studio's work is on the ...
Go to Profile#3585
Jerry Woodall
#64186
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (88 years)
Jerry M. Woodall is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Davis who is widely known for his revolutionary work on LEDs and semiconductors. Over the course of his career, he has published close to 400 scientific articles and his work has directly contributed to the development of major technologies that are used around the world, such as TVs, optical fibers, and mobile phones. Woodall currently holds over 80 U.S. patents for a variety of inventions and has received prestigious awards from IBM, NASA, and the U.S. President for his contributions to sc...
Go to Profile#3586
Everett Peter Greenberg
#64770
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Everett Peter Greenberg is an American microbiologist. He is the inaugural Eugene and Martha Nester Professor of Microbiology at the Department of Microbiology of the University of Washington School of Medicine. He is best known for his research on quorum sensing, and has received multiple awards for his work.
Go to Profile#3587
Roscoe Giles
#57112
Overall Influence
Roscoe C. Giles, III is an American physicist and computer engineer, the deputy director of Boston University's Center for Computational Science. He is also a professor of computer and electrical engineering at Boston University College of Engineering, with a joint appointment in physics.
Go to Profile#3588
Shafaqat Ali
#100761
Overall Influence
#3589
Himabindu Lakkaraju
#85160
Overall Influence
Himabindu "Hima" Lakkaraju is an Indian-American computer scientist who works on machine learning, artificial intelligence, algorithmic bias, and AI accountability. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Business School and is also affiliated with the Department of Computer Science at Harvard University. Lakkaraju is known for her work on explainable machine learning. More broadly, her research focuses on developing machine learning models and algorithms that are interpretable, transparent, fair, and reliable. She also investigates the practical and ethical implications of depl...
Go to Profile#3590
Adam C. Siepel
#67766
Overall Influence
1972 - Present (54 years)
Adam C. Siepel is an American computational biologist known for his research in comparative genomics and population genetics, particularly the development of statistical methods and software tools for identifying evolutionarily conserved sequences. Siepel is currently Chair of the Simons Center for Quantitative Biology and Professor in the Watson School for Biological Sciences at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Go to Profile#3591
Eoghan Casey
#40993
Overall Influence
Eoghan Casey is a digital forensics professional, researcher, and author. Casey has conducted a wide range of digital investigations, including data breaches, fraud, violent crimes, identity theft, and on-line criminal activity. He is also a member of the Digital/Multimedia Scientific Area Committee of the Organization for Scientific Area Committees. He helps organize the digital forensic research DFRWS.org conferences each year, and is on the DFRWS Board of Directors. He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.A. in Educational Communication and Technology from New York University, and a Ph.D.
Go to Profile#3592
Goran Arbanas
#100883
Overall Influence
#3593
Freddy Haesebrouck
#100884
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (68 years)
#3594
Yoshiki Chujo
#100909
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
#3595
Edward J. Delp
#100926
Overall Influence
#3596
Cy Twombly
#1900
Overall Influence
1928 - 2011 (83 years)
Edwin Parker "Cy" Twombly Jr. was an American painter, sculptor and photographer. Twombly is said to have influenced younger artists such as Anselm Kiefer, Francesco Clemente, Julian Schnabel and Jean-Michel Basquiat. His best-known works are typically large-scale, freely-scribbled, calligraphic and graffiti-like works on solid fields of mostly gray, tan, or off-white colors. His later paintings and works on paper shifted toward "romantic symbolism", and their titles can be interpreted visually through shapes and forms and words. Twombly often quoted poets such as Stéphane Mallarmé, Rainer Maria Rilke and John Keats, as well as classical myths and allegories, in his works.
Go to Profile#3597
Peter Mosses
#86924
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Peter David Mosses is a British computer scientist. Peter Mosses studied mathematics as an undergraduate at Trinity College, Oxford, and went on to undertake a DPhil supervised by Christopher Strachey in the Programming Research Group while at Wolfson College, Oxford in the early 1970s. He was the last student to submit his thesis under Strachey before Strachey's death.
Go to Profile#3598
Sam Tak Wu Kwong
#101007
Overall Influence
#3599
Ingrid Verbauwhede
#88376
Overall Influence
Ingrid Verbauwhede is a professor at the COSIC Research Group of the Electrical Engineering Department, KU Leuven, where she leads the embedded systems team. She is a pioneer in the field of secure embedded circuits and systems, with several awards recognising her contributions to the field. She is member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts since 2011. She is a fellow of IEEE.
Go to Profile#3600
Leonard Schulman
#93574
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (63 years)
Leonard J. Y. Schulman is professor of computer science in the Computing and Mathematical Sciences Department at the California Institute of Technology. He is known for work on algorithms, information theory, coding theory, and quantum computation.
Go to Profile